


How bad can human transmutation be?

by melancholicInspiration



Category: Fullmetal Alchemist
Genre: F/M, M/M, Other, based off the pre-brotherhood fma, possibly including other characters from series if needed
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-03-26
Updated: 2014-06-09
Packaged: 2018-01-17 02:45:33
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,445
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1371079
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/melancholicInspiration/pseuds/melancholicInspiration
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A story based off of the events of the Homunculi, though will be mostly centered on Envy. Most other characters will be included, but may play more of a minor role in this fic than they did in canon anime/manga.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Death and Failed Rebirth

**Author's Note:**

> It says that Envy originally died of mercury poisoning when he(they?) were very young. This chapter is more of a prelude to the rest of the fic, showing how Dante reacts to his death and how Envy became Envy. I'm not sure if Hohenheim actually left by the time he died, or that his name used to be William, but I'm writing as if it was.

When her child died of mercury poisoning, she was distraught to say the least. Not only did her only son die in a brutally slow and painful fashion, but her lover Hohenheim of Light, wasn't around to help her through it or even try to save their child. It was like he didn't care about them at all. Going down to the basement of the modest house they owned together, Dante attempted to do the unforgivable – to bring her son back to her. She wrapped the baby in a dark blanket, holding him close to her as if he was still alive and she was trying to keep him warm. 

The basement itself was rather large, with two bookshelves going almost to the ceiling and a flat altar type table along the furthest wall. There were multiple dark red candles lit alongside that table, adding to the atmosphere and shedding much needed light into the windowless room. Dante and Hohenheim were partners in more than one sense, they were on a quest to consistently find more Philosopher's Stones so they could continue living. However, as she placed her dead son on a small chair near the door to the basement, she considered giving him a piece of her stone so he could live as well. There was a half-drawn transmutation circle that Hohenheim and her started a while ago, but he left before they could finish it. Luckily, she had all the things she needed to finish it by herself and she got to work, locking herself into the dark basement. 

Dante had no idea how long it had been by the time she had finished and placed her baby boy – William – in the middle of the transmutation circle along with a small red stone. She pressed her hands down on the circle and smiled as the yellowish light surrounded them, so bright that even the candles couldn't be seen. Something was wrong though, as the light grew chaotic and considerably darker almost as if the alchemy she was performing was refusing to bend to her control. Dante ignored the signs and continued with the transmutation ritual, willing to give everything to see her son again. 

 

Almost as if something had heard her desires, all of the lights went out in a flash and she felt around for what she hoped was her reborn son. She felt the flesh that seemed to be undamaged by what she had done and she breathed a sigh of relief, forgetting the price she had to pay for the transmutation. There were sizable burns appearing all over her arms, a sign that this body was beginning to decay at an alarming rate. Dante knew that she would have to find, or possibly kill, another woman to get a new body. 

“Welcome back William.” She said in a curt tone as she stood up to leave the basement, and the monster she created. A monster that's insides were splattered all over the circle but was also healing at an alarming rate due to the regenerative properties of the Philosopher's Stone now forced into its chest.


	2. A monster or a child?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> William begins to find out about his shapeshifting and ventures out to find other human beings around where Dante and him have been living so far.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I imagine his transformations start out small and uncontrollable until he learns really what is going on and how to control it.

It had been a few days since the transmutation had taken place and luckily she found a new body to take control over, though it left her exhausted and shaken. So she didn't notice when the young boy crept upstairs and was wandering around, trying to explore the various things scattered around the modest house that Dante and Hohenheim owned. 

Dante didn't know if she would ever see him again and when she was reminded of him, either on purpose or her thoughts just unconsciously drifted towards him, she felt bitter and angry. It was almost three months now and during the first couple weeks she wanted to know why he left, and was still clinging to the hope that he would return, but that hope soon faded during her child's sickness and eventual death. No reasons would bring him back to her and she stood up, intent on going to make some food for herself when she saw the boy standing there. 

The homunculus looked up at her, a mixture of fear, confusion and anger apparent on his young face. He looked about ten years old by now and was beginning to look like his father, a realization that made Dante almost want to hit him, with an odd assortment of clothes that she didn't know where they came from. William's eyes used to be a bright blue, like most children at around the age he used to be, but now they were faded to a yellow color with an odd purple around the outermost edge of his iris. 

Getting control of herself and the urge to resort to violence due to Hohenheim's absence, she knelt down in front of him and held out her hand to the boy. Trying to signal that it was alright to trust her. “Would you like some food William?” She asked kindly, trying to look for any kind of expression in his face that would show her what was going on. Although she was something of a homunculus herself, she had never created one before and a tiny modicum of pride welled up within her when she saw that he wasn't injured from the ceremony. 

William didn't respond for a bit, evidently trying to figure out who she was and what was going on before nodding slowly. With that response, Dante stood up and led him to the kitchen and started to prepare food while the boy just watched with suspicious nervous eyes. It seemed that he was just a normal boy, albeit with a bit of amnesia and oddly coloured eyes.

 

The next couple days followed along the same line; Dante trying to carry out her business and William following along behind her, silent as death itself. When she asked him something, he would just stare at her with mistrust in his eyes and then give a soft answer. Were it not for the fact that he was slowly beginning to speak, Dante would have worried that she had messed up the ceremony and that he was unable to talk. The almost constant looks of mistrust in his eyes worried her almost as much, this boy was her own son yet he didn't seem to trust her as he should. 

Eventually, he started to wander outside for long hours and wouldn't talk about what he did out there which increased her worry. She worried that he might mature and gain powers from the ceremony and some harm would come to him, or even worse still that he would abandon her like her stupid lover did. 

“Be careful around people's houses William.” Dante warned one day, trying to not lash out at the boy. 

William stayed silent for a while, still giving her that mistrustful look. “Why?” 

“We are not like them and they might harm you if you go to close.” 

The boy frowned and looked down, the beginnings of jealousy starting in his chest before being replaced with anger. “What do you mean we're not like them?” 

“They are not as powerful as us and they have limited understanding of beings not like them.” Dante's words rang through his head, repeating over and over. “But still they use other things to make them dangerous so you must try to avoid going near them at all costs.” 

William sneered at her and walked away. He knew he was different but he didn't want to ask her how or why. Although there were few houses surrounding the one Dante lived in, the homunculus never really felt much of a need to go over there. Unforeseen feelings of jealousy started to appear again, but he just ignored it for just wanting to get away from Dante. It was no surprise that he wanted to know what he was and where he came from but it was clear that he wouldn't get a straight answer from her. 

 

It was not long after that confrontation that William found out that something odd was going on with his body, and definitely not in the way that he was expecting. It started out as his hands started to change uncontrollably, from his normal small masculine hands to larger older scarred masculine hands, and then to soft manicured female ones. He jumped and exclaimed loudly in shock when he saw what was happening, beginning to run home hoping to get an answer from Dante. William stopped at the edge of the small forest, near the back of the house, realizing that it might not be the best idea to confront her about it. 

Deciding on a temporary plan, he turned and went off to explore what he could of the humans houses that he had been warned against seeing. Maybe there were other people like him that experienced weird things going on with their bodies, but he still attempted to keep out of sight as much as possible. 

He could see people through one small family through a window from the tree he was hiding behind. It was bad enough directly disobeying Dante's orders, but he still knew he didn't belong so close to these people. There was a small tanned girl with curly blonde hair sitting atop a chair, with a darker man sitting in a similar chair around the table and a lighter woman who looked far too young to be married or have children. From such a distance and through the obstacles of the windows and walls, William could barely hear a word that was said from the family but he could see the smiles and the almost intangible warmth that surrounded them. 

A new sensation overcame him, a feeling like he was burning up inside but yet he felt oddly like crying and it made no sense to him at all. He made sure to hide himself from anyone else before sliding down the side of the tree and hugging his knees. 

He had no idea what was going on or who or what he was anymore.


	3. "What was Hohenheim like?"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Envy's first conversation with Dante about Hohenheim and why he left.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not terribly sure if writing Dante as the "bitter, betrayed mother" role is quite right to start off with. I don't believe she is truly evil however. It's still early days however.

Occasionally he still wandered over to the humans houses, just trying to see what they all looked like and trying to decipher conversations through what they seemed to say through glass windows and brick walls. Afterwards, as he began to learn a bit of the extent of his power and doing some experimentation with it, he found he could take the full shape of another human. Given that he had seen them before. Envy had little ideas on how to transform into something or someone he hadn't seen before but right now it wasn't something he needed to think about. 

Maybe he would just transform into someone else entirely and make a new life, apart from Dante and that Hohenheim man she often mentioned in disdainful tones. Once in a while he would see a tall, young looking blonde man aimlessly wandering about and followed him a few times, wondering who he was. The first time he did this, he was unfortunately caught by the man and he looked almost sad to see him there wandering around behind him. He only told him to “Go back to your mother, she must be worried about you” in a wistful tone and then continued walking. 

William did go back to Dante after that, telling her about the strange man wandering around the town. 

“You mean you saw him?” Dante asked as she reclined in an old wooden chair in her bedroom, an unlit cigarette balanced in between her fingers. She looked as young as the day Will first saw her, but she didn't give off any appearance that she cared about who he saw. 

“Yeah.” Will replied in a rather child-like manner, figuring that of course he saw him he had just told her that. 

“Did he say anything to you?” Dante pressed, almost worrying that he would steal her only child away. Or that he might have forgotten that he even had a child. The latter was probably the case, or at least that seemed more probable to her. 

“Not really. Only that I should 'go back to my mom' and then he left.” Will looked almost embarrassed to have to indirectly admit to following the man. He was almost curious as to what kind of man this Hohenheim really was, and why he would have left without any explanation. Surely, he wasn't like what Dante's drunken ramblings made him think that he was. “What was Hohenheim, my father, like?” 

Dante pursed her lips and looked away from William, who was now sitting on the bed. It had been years now since she had last had any sort of contact with her lost lover, and didn't know how to have this type of conversation with him. She lit the cigarette, her hand trembling slightly and gave a deep sigh as if releasing some kid of secret. 

“Hohenheim was a very smart man and very determined. We were research partners before we got married, even though he was not a very romantic man.” She sighed and looked over at her homunculus son. Dante gently took a drag of the cigarette, which was made of crude and harsh tobacco, before gently running some of her fingers through William's hair. “You look just like him.” 

“Why did he leave us?” Will asked softly, as if knowing he wasn't supposed to ask that kind of a question but he wanted to know anyways. He needed to know if there was a reason for his leaving that could be fixed or if he really was that type of man, like he secretly feared. 

“I don't know. Maybe the pain of losing you was too much for him. He was never the type of person to talk about problems. Neither was I.” Dante almost chuckled at that, taking a few more drags of the harsh, unnamed cigarette. 

William opened his mouth as if to say something, or ask something more, before looking down at his lap. Maybe if he went to him now, now that he was alive again, Hohenheim could come back and things would go back to how they should be. 

Silently, he went downstairs to that darkened basement and wondered how he would find him again. Maybe if he could change into something inconspicuous and followed him, he would change back and then he could talk to Hohenheim. What Dante said about his death still rang in his mind and he wondered if he was really responsible for Hohenheim leaving them. Maybe if he kept fighting whatever was killing him, or survived, his father wouldn't have left.


End file.
